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Thursday, 1 June 2017

British Vickers dreadnought design No. 557 for the Royal Netherlands Navy around 1912

Dutch De Zeven Provinciën

British HMS Dreadnought

Spanish Espana-class

British Vickers design No. 694 from 1913

In the first quarter of the 20th Century was the Royal Netherlands interested in acquiring heavier artillery ships especially for the defence of the Dutch East Indies. The largest built before the First World War was the Hr.Ms. De Zeven Provinciën at the navy yard at Amsterdam between 1908-1910.(1) The British Royal Navy built between 1905-1906 the famous battleship HMS Dreadnought of 21.060 tons deep load displacement an a main armament of 5x2-30,5cm/12” guns. This revolutionary design made the already existing battleships obsolete. The results were long discussions dealing with the questions if The Netherlands needed such large ships, what numbers and off course the needed budget. The first intention was an enlarged version of De Zeven Provinciën although also the design of the Spanish 16.190 tons full load España-class with a main armament or 8-30,5cm/12” 50 cal guns is considered to be an option. Between 1912-1914 were 11 shipyards abroad asked for tenders; it was yet impossible to built such ships in the Netherlands.(2) At one time is even spoken of 9 of such ships. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 prevented the start of the building of the first Dutch dreadnought in end December. Among the 11 shipyards was also the British firm Vickers Ltd., Barrow-in Furness, England included. A table supplies details of several designs including the No. 607 of which a more detailed design is preserved. It’s not clear if the other designs were for the Dutch market and/or other navies.

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About Me

My father (Ron) and I (Alexander) are doing research in the topic navies and trading companies in the period 1500-present. My mother Karin helped my father early 1980's with research and nowadays she is almost daily photographing the ships passing on the river Schelde.
My father started his research more as 40 years ago. First he was interested in the Dutch navy and the navies in the Second World War , later in the period 19th century-present and about 20 years he started his research in the topic navies 1500-1860, in fact the era of the sailing warships including the galleys and the trading companies like the Dutch E.I.C. and the W.I.C.
My self, I’m interested in the topic navies 1860-present especially Russian built warships and Dutch warships and further more sailing ships over the whole period.
Together we are busy with photographing, drawing and doing research in archives, literature and on the web trying to collect every kind of information and sharing that with others without commercial thoughts just because we are ship lovers and fond of naval history.